It's 60 degrees Fahrenheit in Miami, at this moment.
That's also the official temperature a bit further down the Overseas Highway, in Key West, where I used to flip-flop around outside. At this moment, here in Seattle, the temperature is 56.
And it's only January 19th.
It's been a particularly good winter here, at least as far as I'm concerned. Oh, it did get a bit cold for a week or two, and I saw a lot of Seattle folks bundled up, heard them complaining.
But for someone who grew up in northeast Ohio, right at the edge of something that is called the snow belt, I think this is glorious; makes me think about packing a picnic and heading for the beach (which is just around the corner and down Fauntleroy a ways at Lincoln Park).
But the thin-blooded whiners who were upset about the brief cold snap aren't the only ones complaining about the weather, here in the Pacific Northwest.
The people in Vancouver, British Columbia, who are organizing the 2010 Winter Olympics are bitching, too, but for another reason.
They're wondering if they're going to have enough snow.
As my grandfather Warwick used to say, it's raining pitchforks and ponytails up there and not a flake of snow in sight on Cypress Mountain, thirty minutes north of downtown Vancouver, where three ski events and three snowboard events are scheduled.
And it seems the Olympics staff can't make artificial snow, either, because the water in their snow cannons won't freeze in the warm air.
Of course, they do have snow stockpiled for such an occasion, both artificial and nature versions of the stuff. And they're keeping the stockpiles covered, so all the rain won't melt it. But they're still worried.
I would be, too, if I were in the Olympics business. But I'm not, so I'm loving all the shirt-sleeves weather here in Washington State.
And I'm wondering if the folks running the Olympics have considered installing in-line wheels on the bottoms of the skis and snowboards. Just a thought, you know?
